Why always Dalish?
by Brzoz
Summary: Mages are awesome. Dalish mages even more. Talk a bit with Vivienne and then with Merrill, you'll understand. It's a shot at creating a background story for Lavellan. M because I'd like to put some gore someday. No angsty romances here, shoo.


Ellana Lavellan was not the First. She wouldn't mind that normally, she was quite happy in fact, but the whole running from creepy spiders was indirect result of her not being the First. At that very moment she was considering her nature of a very lazy, very stubborn and not very Dalish elf. Elf that was sent away on various matters just to be… away. Glimpses of strangling Maevan, Deshanna's First, were nice intermissions too.  
"Humans do something, go find out what is this Conclave-thing" she mimicked Keeper's voice. Badly "Have a blackout and wake up in a _blighted_ FADE!" she whined.  
"Oh, look! A glowing lady!"

Cassandra was approached by a soldier. They were patrolling the valley, looking for survivors, when demons appeared. Bulky man gazed at her a bit confused "We... found someone near the Temple. Or... what's left of it" Seeker looked at him raising her brow "Why are you telling _me_ this? Find a medic"  
Soldier scratched his chin "Right... she… ugh… came from the Fade. And her hand... glows" he pointed at medic's tent  
"That's preposterous" Cassandra snorted. Short man cleared his throat "No injuries. Unconscious but no wounds. A Dalish, tattoos all over the face" he stopped for a second, hesitating "There was a woman behind her… covered in brightest light I ever saw".  
Woman looked sternly at the man for a time, considering the response. She finally nodded, deciding calling one of her subordinates heretics won't be very good for morale, especially when demons were pouring from the sky. Seeker headed to medic's tent.

Adan was proud of himself. There was a mystery and he solved it. With a little assistance from an apostate, true, but that mage was interrupting him more than helping, so it didn't count. Elven female, 25-30 years old, no visible wounds, no trauma. With glowing hand which appeared to be the cause of her condition. Near death condition, that is. If he could, he'd study the case in his cosy, dark laboratory in University of Orlais, in the cellars preferably, with no pesky, annoying apostates poking his subject, no dim-witted soldiers asking about progress every five minutes. Well, he didn't _solve_ it actually, but slowed the process and that was something.  
"Fetch the Seeker" Adan called to the guard stationed outside. The man snorted at him and did nothing. "She'll regain consciousness soon" Alchemist growled at him, smirked when he saw him moving feet. The guard instead of doing what he asked him to, nodded at another man, took the elf in arms and left the household.  
"What are you doing?! Patient is in no condition to be interrogated!" Adan protested  
"I have my orders" guard narrowed his eyes "Look up, we don't have the time to coddle murderers"

Her hand did glow. Pretty, she thought. And then a blast of searing pain hit her, radiating from hand through her entire body. _Halla's crap, my hair is on fire!_ She curled up on the floor. _Floor?_ Her mind shifted, everything fell in place, she was chained and lying in some dunk room. _Light, door opens. Big door. Dungeon. Prison?_ Two women went in, guards nodded and sheathed swords.  
"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now"

Being told you're mage is not the same as being told you're an apostate. It matters if the one speaking such things is a Chantry zealot. Normally it isn't very dangerous, worst case scenario you'll be dragged to nearest Circle. But Circles are gone and Chantry zealots are rather unhappy their leader is dead. Along with dozens of people who tried to fix this mess. It still isn't so bad… unless you're the sole survivor with a glowing hand.  
"I swear to you, I have no idea what is happening. Why I have this… thing" Ellana was annoyed  
"Drop your weapon" Cassandra narrowed her eyes  
"You think I need a _stick_ to harm you?" elf chuckled. The reasoning behind that sentence was valid but something about laughter made Cassandra uneasy "Is that suppose to reassure me?!" she pushed the feeling away "You didn't run when you had the chance" she sheathed sword "I suppose you should have a weapon. Come, I can hear the fighting, they are close"  
"Who's fighting?" Ellana chased Seeker to the top of the hill.  
Green light covered everything, it was coming from a tear in the Veil. Amazing. A shadow raised before her. Creature growled and rushed on her, only to freeze in place. Elf blinked surprised and looked around. Someone was fighting shadows.  
"Right" she adjusted the grip on her new staff.

Free Marches were turning into a big refugee camp. Fereldans were coming to escape the Blight. It seemed none of them understood that the darkspawn don't exactly honour boundaries. Dalish didn't care for boundaries either. They did however care about the Blight, Keeper Dashanna realised they need a miracle. Bad news travel fast, refugees spoke of great battle in Korcari Wilds and how Gray Wardens perished at Ostagar. It was far south. Few months ago. Wycome was too close, it was getting crowded, hunters were seeing darkspawn and soldiers too frequently. Dashanna managed to make an arrangement with Viscount, Lavellan will help Wycome by killing darkspawn in the forest, in return soldiers will keep their distance from elves.

Ellana was a friend. And a fellow mage. Both of them wanted to become Deshanna's First. Meavan knew she's much more in control of her abilities than Ellana ever was. That brat had an amazing ability to draw directly from the Fade, but absolutely no control over it. Her own spells were more focused and elegant, she had full confidence that Dashanna will choose her over Ellana. She took an unpleasant task of training her, in the field. The coast, their route, was empty. Maevan sat on trunk and stretched "There's nothing out there. Let's rest a bit here and head back"  
"Awww.. missing Ilen, are we?" Ellana cackled "Face it, he likes his halla more than he likes you"  
"He likes me?" Maevan raised eyebrows  
"Oh, you're so easy!" younger female giggled, something shifted behind them. Older elf grabbed her staff and turned to face moving shadow.  
"Me! Me-me-me!" Ellana didn't wait for friend's nod, she fell on her knees and thrusted hands into the mud. Maevan looked at her curiously after a while as nothing happened.  
"What are you..." the ground moved, swayed more like it "doing?" she snorted at the ridiculous attempt. Younger elf didn't say anything, just pushed hands deeper into the mud. Pebbles started rolling down the hill, but Maevan didn't feel anything. She knew her friend is casting spell, but she didn't feel it. There was no light, no energy. Birds hit the sky.  
"Stop it, you're scaring me" the ground cracked open beside her  
"Glyph..." younger elf gargled  
"What?" Maevan was terrified  
"Neutralize… you idiot" Ellana spat, her elbows sunk into the mud. Older female circled them with glyph, she wasn't sure what's happening but it wasn't right. Just to be safe, Maevan repeated the spell, she moved herself closer to Ellana, shaking.

The ground broke spilling roots, it seemed they connected every plant on the coast. Thin lines cut down bushes and blades of grass, thick ones rose in the air, creating grim ceiling high above their heads, ripping apart everything they encountered on their path. Distant screams reached their ears, they were full of horror, pain and... dying. Maevan couldn't tell how far away they were but they seem to come from every direction. Blood mixed with rain and mud, dripping from the roots. After few minutes the only noises they could hear was swirling movement on the ground, somewhere outside their dreadful haven.  
"...spel..." Ellana murmured  
"What?" Maevan blinked  
"Stop me!" elf cried. Older female rose, with a few words she flood the area with her spell. Roots froze, fell on the ground and retracted as Ellana pulled her hands out of the mud. She laid on her back slowly.  
"Thanks…" young elf wiggled her fingers, they were covered in blood, hundreds of tiny incisions all the way to her elbows "Awwww"  
"You're an idiot" Maevan kneeled over her. "It worked" Ellana licked her lips, breathing heavily, clearly excited "I wasn't sure it will"  
"I won't tell about this Dashanna, but promise me, you'll never do this again"  
"I just wanted to check if..." she sat up, looked around and frowned at broken trees, crumbled rocks "I've destroyed this place. I don't want to do this again" she swallowed looking at a scrap of meat with fur, covered in blood. Bear? Wolf? Rabbit?  
"Good"  
"Tomorrow we do this your way"


End file.
